Tuesday, August 5, 2008

She gave new meaning to the word "safety"

And unfortunately, that meaning was "not safe".

I was at a shopping center today with my boys when I was accosted in the parking lot by a woman there advocating child safety. Or, more specifically, trying to sell child ID cards for ridiculous sums of money. Okay, in and of itself, that's fine. I'm all in favor of my kids being safe, even if it costs ridiculous sums of money.

But here was the thing: she had her table set up in the emergency vehicle lane of a busy parking lot. Not on the nearby sidewalk, but right out in the parking lot. Okay, I guess in the event of an emergency, she could drag her table out of the way pretty quickly, strewing D.A.R.E. swag as she ran, but it just seemed an odd choice. Especially because, as I've already mentioned, IT'S A BUSY PARKING LOT! She was talking to me. Did she really think I was paying attention? Heck no. I was too busy trying to make sure that my three year olds didn't run out into traffic.

You know, basic children's safety. Like she wanted me to pay for. I think, instead, I'll just avoid crazy people who have set up children's safety tables in the middle of busy parking lots. That's my efforts to keep my kids safe today.

Random unrelated thought: It's been a while since I've talked about books, which is odd because I've been reading a lot of good ones recently. But one I have to mention is John Adams by David McCullough. I've had this book sitting in my to-read pile for quite some time. I'd heard it was good, but 1) it's approximately two thousand pages long (okay, fine, 768 pages but that's still pretty dense, heavy reading for summer!), and 2) it's about John Adams. Not exactly my preferred subject matter. But the book was so engaging and really interesting. Highly recommended, and not just to American History buffs, since I am, by no stretch of the imagination, especially buffy about American History.

Now I'm reading Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum, our book group selection this month. It's a fiction novel set during the Holocaust, and while I'm not far into it at the moment, it grabbed me from nearly the first page.

About Me

I'm a stay at home mom to twin boys who were born in 2005, and a new baby brother born in 2009. We have adventures, we laugh, we cry. I write it all down. Come, enter all ye who dare! But just don't expect this to be an "all parenting all the time" kind of blog. I'll wax poetic about books, or cook up a post about food, or just blurt out some random randomness. Wear a helmet so you don't get hurt!

What I've been reading

Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States by Bill Bryson. You know how some authors are just a perfect fit for you? That's Bryson for me. I love his writing, and have a weird affection for etymology, so this was a match made in heaven. Loved it!

Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck. What an interesting snapshot of America in the early 60s. Some parts were really compelling, a good read.

John Dies at the End by David Wong. Weird. Not bad, but weird.

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. I love her blog--at least half of this book is directly reprinted from the blog so I'd already read it. She touches on depression (like on her blog), which provides that strange funny/depressing dichotomy.

Stranger than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk. Collection of short autobiographical and non-fiction stuff. Great...enjoyed more than some of his novels!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Really enjoyable book! Part dystopian, part techno thriller, with some lite cyberpunk tossed in along with heavy doses of geek culture and 80's memorabilia. Definitely worth a read!

Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff. I read Beautiful Boy, the memoir by Nic Sheff's father about his meth addiction last month. To say a drug addict makes a questionably believable narrator is something of an understatement, but this was still a really interesting story. Would like to read his followup memoir.

My Beloved Brotosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs by Brian Switek. Interesting science book by a paleontologist. Funny chapter on dinosaur reproduction theories. Overall interesting, though sometimes the author's stories make him sound entirely incapable of advance planning. In a fun way.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Enjoyed the first half of the book, but thought it was going to be a straightforward "woman in peril" kind of book. Loved when the second part started. Ended up really enjoying this one.

Vurt by Jeff Noon. This book was weird. Not bad, just out there. I'm not a huge fan of cyberpunk, which this is, but this was okay. Would certainly recommend to fans of the genre.